Journal of Natural History in the newshttps://phys.org/
en-usLatest news from Journal of Natural HistoryNew snake species hiding in plain sightSamuel McDowell, the late herpetologist and professor at Rutgers-Newark, spent a good part of his life studying ground snakes in New Guinea. Forty years later, Sara Ruane – who joined the Department of Biological Sciences faculty last semester – was able to find evidence that the snakes McDowell studied were, in fact, a new species of reptiles that have been hiding in plain sight.https://phys.org/news/2017-12-snake-species-plain-sight.html
Plants & Animals Thu, 21 Dec 2017 06:57:09 EDTnews43306182115 new gecko species discovered in MyanmarWith support from Fauna & Flora International (FFI), 15 karst-adapted gecko species were recently found in Myanmar within the space of just two weeks, highlighting the outstanding biodiversity of limestone ecosystems.https://phys.org/news/2017-10-gecko-species-myanmar.html
Ecology Thu, 05 Oct 2017 09:48:13 EDTnews426415686What's in a name? Tracing the origins of orangutan scientific namesA team of scientists have undertaken detective work to trace the origin of the first orangutan specimen to be scientifically named Pongo pygmaeus. By tracing the history of the specimen as accurately as they can, the team have established Banjarmasin, in the Indonesian part of Borneo, as the most likely place of origin. Their findings are published in the Journal of Natural History.https://phys.org/news/2016-08-orangutan-scientific.html
Plants & Animals Tue, 02 Aug 2016 09:08:33 EDTnews389347704Key threats to siamese crocodiles and highlights lessons learned from 15 years of conservation workA new paper 'Status, distribution and ecology of the Siamese crocodile Crocodylus siamensis in Cambodia' (October 2015, Cambodian Journal of Natural History) reports that fewer than 400 wild Siamese crocodiles remain in Cambodia, following decades of poaching. However, the paper concludes that there are good prospects of rebuilding their populations by enlisting the help of indigenous communities and by releasing genetically-screened captive-bred stockhttps://phys.org/news/2016-02-key-threats-siamese-crocodiles-highlights.html
Plants & Animals Thu, 04 Feb 2016 09:50:04 EDTnews373800061Literature searches benefit from location taggingAgricultural Research Service ecologist Jason Karl is creating new options for helping researchers to conduct literature searches that go beyond using traditional search terms such as keywords or authors. With the help of a diverse team of collaborators, he has developed a search engine called "JournalMap" that uses research locations and physical site variables to identify scientific papers of interest.https://phys.org/news/2014-10-literature-benefit-tagging.html
Other Fri, 31 Oct 2014 06:43:03 EDTnews333956576Tiny travellers of the animal world: Hitchhikers on marine driftwoodA new study led by a Canadian marine zoologist reviews the world list of specialist driftwood talitrids, which so far comprises a total of 7 representatives, including two newly described species. These tiny animals with peculiar habits all live in and feed on decomposing marine driftwood. Dispersed across distant oceanic islands they use floating driftwood to hitch a ride to their destination. The study was published in the open access journal Zoosystematics and Evolution.https://phys.org/news/2014-10-tiny-animal-world-hitchhikers-marine.html
Plants & Animals Fri, 10 Oct 2014 12:15:49 EDTnews332162131Letter from 1909 could solve missing fish riddleA letter sent to the Museum more than a hundred years ago could unravel the mystery absence of the freshwater river blenny from the island of Cyprus.https://phys.org/news/2014-03-letter-fish-riddle.html
Plants & Animals Thu, 27 Mar 2014 07:40:01 EDTnews315121330Worm-like mite species discovered on Ohio State's campusIt looks like a worm and moves like a worm – sort of. But it is a previously unidentified microscopic species of mite that was discovered by a graduate student on The Ohio State University campus.https://phys.org/news/2014-02-worm-like-mite-species-ohio-state.html
Plants & Animals Fri, 28 Feb 2014 16:37:02 EDTnews312827803Study shows spiders, not birds, may drive evolution of some butterflies(Phys.org) —Butterflies are among the most vibrant insects, with colorations sometimes designed to deflect predators. New University of Florida research shows some of these defenses may be driven by enemies one-tenth their size.https://phys.org/news/2013-03-spiders-birds-evolution-butterflies.html
Plants & Animals Tue, 12 Mar 2013 10:58:55 EDTnews282304569